Guided follows Macey who is struggling after a girl in her Guide group died during a camp and as people are starting to ask questions about what really went down that night. This had a strong mystery throughout but felt like a good contemporary reflection of British teenagers and how guilt and grief can affect someone.
We follow Macey’s perspective throughout the story, jumping between the past, the night of the event and the aftermath of the death in the present. There are a couple of diary entries too. Being in Macey’s head was a really interesting way to hear the story because you get to see how she is affected by everything going on around her and how over the course of the story her mental health and perspective changes.
We see quite a wide cast of characters due to following multiple time periods. In the present we see Macey’s school friends and boyfriend and how they view what has happened and the impact of what has happened on their friend who they have been close to before and after. We also see Macey’s mum and sister, one of which was really positive and supportive even if it didn’t work out in the way she meant it to in the end and one who I wasn’t that sure of but did make me feel positively in many ways.
In the past we see much more of the Guide group including Lexie, Lucy, Orla, Chloe and Kayleigh as well as Sharon the group leader. It was really sad to see what happened to Lexie during this part of the story and I wasn’t a fan of many of these characters due to that but many of it was relatable when you think of bullying and how if affects everyone involved.
Some characters were likeable but many were not for many many reasons depending on the character and while they felt real and their actions didn’t feel like they were just performing for the plot I still wished that they could have behaved differently or supported their friend more.
There was a lot I liked while reading this story including all the British references, seeing such a range of characters and much of the writing. As a massive UKYA fan who enjoys reading books set in Britain instead of just America, the setting was great to see and I loved all of the references. The way this reads and follows the characters through Sixth form reminded me of many British authors I love including Holly Bourne, who I previously mentioned which was great to see.
I liked jumping between time periods as it gave me a better understanding of what had happened and the significance of it. The pacing was also really well done, it changes between parts 1 and 2 but that works really well for the story and even with the slower pace of part 1 I could not put the book down.
I found the ending to be really powerful but at the same time it has left me with a few loose threads and unanswered questions separate from just wanting to know what happened after that final event. But it was done well and that’s what's important with this type of ending. I will definitely be reading Wasted and the rest of the ELU, not sure what order yet but I will get to them all, hopefully in a way that allows me to pick up on all the little mentions here and there so I get the best experience.
I would highly recommend this to fans of Holly Bourne, possibly Jacqueline Wilson and any British teenagers who are interested in reading Contemporary stories. An easy 4 star read that while it’s not a new favourite but one that I highly recommend and I think Emma has an easy potential to get a 5 start read or favourite book with a future read.
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